Mingle.com Meets Banker.com In the 40K Club Atop This Week's Sales
Chart

by Ron Jackson

With many of the domain
industry's moversand shakers busy at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2004 conference this past week, I was curious to see if
sales over the past 7 days would dip a bit. As it turns out,
there was no reason to worry. We still had 7 five-figure deals
reported, with one of the highest completed at the Delray Beach,
Florida trade show. That was Banker.com, purchased by
Rick Schwartz for $41,000 in an auction conducted
at the conference.

While domainers mingled in Delray, GreatDomainswas busy selling Mingle.com for $45,000 to claim
the #1 spot on our new Top Ten. Enom's
Club Drop swept all of the remaining positions in the
first five with an impressive run including Boaters.com at $17,607,
Mathgame.com at $11,107 and HometownRealty.com at $10,807.
Club Drop software architect Chris Ambler obviously had his
program tuned to perfection this past week.

For the second straight week we saw a .org go for five
figures. Last week it was Erickson.org at $10,500.
This time around it is Medicine.org which went for $10,503
in an auction at Pool.com.
Incidentally, for those interested in chasing drops through the
upcoming Open Listing Service (OLS) announced by Pool, I'll
have full details on that program in an article we will be
publishing later this week. I interviewed Pool President Taryn
Naidu at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference to get a complete rundown
on how it will work.

There is one other bit of information I wanted to pass along from
the trade show. After starting our sales reports a year ago at this
time we received occasional complaints that the high numbers
reflected on our charts gave too many people the impression that
their domains were worth more than they really are. Some went on to
say that the charts gave an unrealistically high view of the
overall market. Then we started hearing from major players in
the business who had just the opposite complaint - that the
reported numbers made the overall market look weaker than it really
is!

Obviously both sides can't be right. We have always pointed out
that the sales reported to us are just a fraction of those that
occur. The prices from many sales are never released because of
non-disclosure agreements (NDA). In most cases, NDA's are used for
sales at the high end of the market, so we have tended to
agree with the faction that says real market activity is
considerably stronger than what our reports reflect. That
view was reinforced at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. when someone who works in
brokerage with a major company told me he was aware of three
unreported transactions in recent weeks that all went over $1
million! We have been chronicling a booming market all year and
the evidence indicates it is even stronger than many realize.

Now back to this week's reported sales. The Medicine.org deal
ranked #6 on this week's list and was the only non .com domain on
our new chart. Pool captured a second entry on the big board, while Sedo.com
also claimed two positions and Afternic.com
accounted for the other slot. It was a nice week for the New TLD's
too, with 4 four-figure sales including a big one at Moniker.com/DomainSystems.com
that was among the 10 highest new extension sales this year. We'll
have more on that in our New TLD section a little later, but right
now let's take a look at the complete
Top Ten for the week ending Sunday, Oct. 24:

Keep in mind that these are the highest
value sales that have been reported to us in the past week.
This column is meant to be an educational tool, not a
complete list documenting ALL high value domain
sales. Such a list is impossible to produce because many
sales are kept private at the insistence of buyers, sellers
or both.

As you can see Sedo.com rang up the week's final
five-figure sale, Dial7.com at $10,204 and also anchored
the chart with 118888.com at (£4,100) $7,526. That's
the first time I've seen a six-number domain in that range (or
perhaps in any range)!. Of course, when you see something like
that you know it has to have a special meaning. In this case the
number is related to directory assistance in the UK. It was
purchased by a company that already operates TheNumber118118.com.
Pool's second chart entry was #8 Seitensprung.com at $9,054
and Afternic scored with LiveSupport.com at $8,500.

As always there was a lot of action below the Top Ten
as well. At SnapNames.com,
Arin.com commanded $7,201 while WhaleTail.com
(920 with the extension in Overture) went for $6,600. SpyMedia.com
was close behind at $6,101. In a very strong 3-letter .org
sale, SnapNames got $5,608 for ICM.org. They also sold a
pair of 3-letter .coms, GDF.com at $4,100 and PJB.com
at $3,600. In other deals World1000.com went for $3,552
and eMailing.com sold for $3,144.

Enom Club Drop's success was not limited to their
three entries on the big board. They added $7,010 for Useful.com,
$5,807 for DieselShoes.com and $5,007 for AllTravel.com.
Elastic.com and OficeMax.com (high traffic misspelling
that scores 590 with the extension in Overture) each attracted $3,709.
They also had the week's highest reported .net sale, Scour.net
at $2,909. Other winners from Club Drop included GoldKey.com
at $2,730, FreeCreditRatings.com at $2,437 and Fukk.com
at $2,330. Phernermine.com (a misspelling) went
for $2,230, while Temo.com brought in $2,107 and PlayFreeSlots.com
added $2,015.

At Pool.comMoneyManagers.com banked $5,100, followed by Phetermine.com
at $4,750 and Sapporo.com at $4,500. Subscribers.com
brought in $4,100 with another $3,600 going into the
collection plate for FirstBaptistChurch.com. DKShopping.com
sold for $3,250, TravelRates.com attracted $3,100
and LastMinuteFare.com added $3,042. BoxingClub.com
also landed a solid punch at $3,001 a buck ahead of BordersBookStore.com
at $3,000. Other sales included Siamese.com ($2,360),
MilitaryDating ($2,100) and MovieScreensaver.com($1,960).
In other extensions, Finances.net returned $1,700,
Seafood.org was a $1,579 catch and another $1,330
bubbled up from Aquarium.net.

Sedo's selection of sales is usually salted with a
wide variety of country code extensions but this week .coms ruled the
roost. TradeFairs.com led the way at $7,000. Catmate.com
lapped up 2,888 ($3,684) and Infojour.com added 2,790
($3,559). Others included LinkGain.com at $3,090 and
Archiver.com at $2,500. There also was one solid British
country code sale, LondonDirectory.co.uk at £2,750($5,048).

At other stops, DotcomAgency.com
checked in with $3,600 from SlovakiaHotels.com, BackingMusic.com
drummed up $2,325 and NoisyNeighbours.com raised a $2,206
ruckus. Back at Afternic, DuneCapital.com and LDSI.com
commanded $2,500 each. Elsewhere the owner of UltimateMagazines.com
parted with one of his many magazine properties, ActionMagazine.com
for $1,200.

*****

Our Year To Date chart gets a new member
this week with Mingle.com entering at #35. (Editor's Note - Nov. 16,
2004: Banker.com was originally on this YTD list, but there was a
temporary delay in completion of that deal. As a result it was moved
to the YTD chart published Nov. 16 when the ownership transfer was
completed). Here is the complete
rundown of big winners so far in 2004:

Domain
Name Journal's Year-To-Date Top SalesHighest Reported
2004 Domain
Sales through Sun. Oct. 24, 2004 Euro to Dollar Conversion ( to $)
Based on Rates in
Effect When Sales Were Originally Reported by DNJ

- Domains entering the chart this
week are highlighted in green -

Domain

Sold For

Where
Sold

1.

CreditCards.com

$2.75
Million

Private
Sale

2.

Mercury.com

$700,000(700K cash + $400,000 in goods & services)

Private
Sale

3.

ME.com

$460,000

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

4.

Smoking.com

$325,000

GreatDomains

5.

Viajes.com("travel" in Spanish)

$300,000

Sedo

6.

Arab.com

$225,000

Pvt
Sale

7.

VisitFlorida.com

$186,000

Pvt
Sale

8.

Commerce.com

$180,000

Sedo

9.
(tie)

Animation.com

$150,000

Pvt
Sale

9.
(tie)

Beef.com

$150,000

GreatDomains

11.

SSM.com

$145,000

Pvt
Sale

12.

IQTest.de

123,625
= $147,635

Sedo

13.

TourismAustralia.com

AUD
$201,000 = US$146,200

Pvt
Sale

14.

Sexkontakte.de"Sex contacts" in German

110,000
= $141,175

Sedo

15.

MR.com

$125,000

GreatDomains

16.

Truck.com

$101,000

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

17.

eCruise.com

$100,000

Pvt
Sale

18.

Kreuzfahrten.de"Cruises" in German

70,000
= $88,853

Sedo

19.

Kazalite.com

$83,500

Pool

20.

Sedo.com

$80,000

Private
Sale

21.

BackCountry.com

$75,000

Private
Sale

22.

Boxen.de"Boxing" in German

56,500
= $72,509

Sedo

23.

IFly.com

$65,000

Sedo

24.

Stop.com

$62,500

Moniker/
DomainSystems

25.

ClearDay.com

$60,000

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

26.

GolfCourses.com

$55,750

Moniker/
DomainSystems

27.
tie

FKK.de

40,000
= $51,333

Sedo

27.
tie

Busen.de"Bosom" in German

40,000
= $51,333

Sedo

29.
tie

Typing.com

$50,000

GreatDomains

29.
tie

BoiseRealEstate.com

$50,000

Moniker/
DomainSystems

29.
tie

Harmony.com

$50,000

GreatDomains

29.
tie

Mirror.com

$50,000

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

33.

CarFinancing.com

$46,000

Pool

34.

Hardcore.co.uk

£25,000
= $45,951

Sedo

35.

Mingle.com

$45,000

GreatDomains

36.

Meningitis.com

$45,000

Private
Sale

37.
tie

Robots.com

$40,000

GreatDomains

37.
tie

Claims.com

$40,000

GreatDomains

39.

Mister.com

$38,800

Pvt
Sale

40.

Faces.com

$38,700

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

41.

Metropol.com

30,500
= $38,230

Sedo

42.

Nackt.de"Nude or Naked" in German

30,000
= $38,081

Sedo

43.

FoodPoisoning.com

$36,500

Pvt
Sale

44.

Fotos.com

30,000
= $35,793

Private
Sale

45.

WesternAustralia.com

AU$50,000
= $35,178

Pvt
Sale

46.

Cairo.com

$35,001

Sedo

47.
tie

SinglesTravel.com

$35,000

Pvt
Sale

47.
tie

Miss.com

$35,000

Afternic

47.
tie

Spamzilla.com

$35,000

MarketEvolver

50.

Low.com

$32,640

Moniker/
DomainSystems

51.

Refurbished.com

$32,000

Pool

52.

CleanEnergy.com

$31,950

Moniker
/ DomainSystems

53.

Humor.de

25,520
= $30,449

Sedo

54.

EducationEssentials.com

$30,375

Moniker/
DomainSystems

55.

Single.co.uk

24,600
= $30,341

Sedo

56.

DiscountDrugs.com

$30,010

Namewinner

57.
tie

Cocina.com"kitchen/cooking in Spanish"

$30,000

Pvt
Sale

57.
tie

Cursor.com

$30,000

Sedo

57.
tie

WebsiteDevelopment.com

$30,000

DotcomAgency

57.
tie

DCJobs.com

$30,000

Pvt
Sale

57.
tie

CN.tv

$30,000

Sedo

57.
tie

AntiDepressants.com

$30,000

Private
Sale

57.
tie

Gray.com

$30,000

GreatDomains

57.
tie

Actor.com

$30,000

Sedo

65.

NewYork.info

22,000 =
$28,086

Sedo

66.

Headstones.com

$28,000

Pool

Unforgettable
Footnotes:Below are landmark sales where the price level (denoted
by X characters) was released but not the exact price paid.
This will allow us to note significant sales that are among
the Year-To-Date leaders but cannot be ranked
numerically due to a confidentiality agreement that
kept the exact price private. Date shown indicates when the
sale was first reported in Domain Name Journal. High
- Mid - Low indicates the range within the price category
shown by multiple X's.

Juegos.com
(June 29, 2004)

High
$XXX,XXX

Pvt
Sale

Woman.com
(Feb. 10, 2004)

Low
$XXX,XXX

Sedo

CellularPhones.com
(May 11, 2004)

Low
$XXX,XXX

Pvt
Sale

Spanish.com
(Sept. 8, 2004)

Low
$XXX,XXX

Pvt
Sale

IS.com
(May 4, 2004)

(No
range) $XXX,XXX

Pvt
Sale

Bόcher.de
(Mar. 16, 2004)
{"books" in German)

High
$XX,XXX

Sedo

New TLD Section

There's more good news on the new extension front this
week. Moniker.com/DomainSystems.com
made one of the 10 biggest New TLD sales of the year,
collecting $7,500 for Erickson.info. That is also the
largest sale of a surname in a new extension to date. That deal helped
.info complete another big week, taking 7 of the 8 positions on
our Great 8 chart. Only my sale of SCW.biz for $650
prevented a .info sweep.

There were 4 four-figure sales this week including SkinCancer.info
which sold for $3,000 at Sedo. The others were ChamberOfCommerce.info
at $1,500 and Westfalia.info at $1,200 (both of
those going in private sales). Pool headed the second half of the
chart with Content.info at $785. Here is a look at
the complete New TLD list for the week
ending Oct. 24:

Sedo anchored the chart with a pair of German terms in
.info, including PC-Spiele.info which commanded $638
despite the hyphen. Just off the chart, Sedo sold Tablet.info
for 380 ($485). 3-letter domains continue to do well
especially when you consider these prices are being paid predominantly
by resellers. The latest we saw was OEB.info at Pool for $250.

Erickson.info takes a place in our Year-To-Date New TLD Top 33 this week, settling in at #10, nudging Party.info
out of that slot. Here are all of the top reported 2004 new extension sales through
Oct. 24:

Domain
Name Journal's Year-To-Date New TLD Top 33Highest Reported 2004 .info, .biz & .us Domain Sales through
Oct. 24 Euro to Dollar Conversion ( to $)
Based on Rates in Effect When Sales Were Originally Reported
by DNJ

- Domains entering the chart this
week are highlighted in green -

Domain

Sold For

Where
Sold

1.

NewYork.info

22,000 = $28,086

Sedo

2.

Casino.info

17,500
= $20,899

Sedo

3.

HMS.info

9,280
= $10,492

Sedo

4.
tie

Tampa.info

$10,000

Pvt
Transaction

4.
tie

Moscow.info

$10,000

Sedo

6.

SolarStrom.info("solar energy" in German)

8,000
= $9,802

Sedo

7.

Vitamins.info

$9,500

Afternic

8.

RioDeJaneiro.info

$9,000

Pvt
Sale

9.

Stocks.us

$8,062

Sedo

10.

Erickson.info

$7,500

Moniker/
DomainSystems

11.

Party.info

6,000 = $7,166

Sedo

12.

Book.biz

$7,000

Galcomm

13.

BDSM.info

5,500
= $6,947

Sedo

14.

Reifen.biz"tires" in German

5,500
= $6,894

Sedo

15.

Vancouver.info

5,000
= $6,378

Sedo

16.

Party.us

$6,000

Pvt
Sale

17.

Beach.info

5,000 = $5,972

Sedo

18.
tie

Finanzen.info("Finances" in German)

4,900
= $5,888

Sedo

18.
tie

Steuer.info("Tax" in German)

4,900
= $5,888

Sedo

20.

InvestmentFonds.info("investment funds" in German)

4,750 = $5,673

Sedo

21.

Vacations.info

$5,500

Pvt
Sale

22.
tie

Woman.info

$5,000

Sedo

22.
tie

Michigan.info

$5,000

Pvt
Sale

22.
tie

Minnesota.info

$5,000

Pvt
Sale

25.

Erotica.info

4,000 = $4,913

Sedo

26.

KFZ.info

4,000
= $4,873

Sedo

27.

CityGuide.info

4,000 =
$4,773

Sedo

28.
tie

Meningite.biz("Meningitis in French & Italian)

$4,250

Sedo

28.
tie

Meningite.info("Meningitis in French & Italian)

$4,250

Sedo

30.

Grafik.info

3,500 = $4,249

Sedo

31.
tie

Houston.info

$4,000

Pvt
Sale

31.
tie

Washington.info

$4,000

Pvt
Sale

31.
(tie)

ETC.info

$4,000

Pvt
Sale

Unforgettable
Footnotes:Below are key sales where the price level (denoted
by X characters) was released but not the exact price paid.
This will allow us to note significant sales that are among
the Year-To-Date leaders but cannot be ranked
numerically due to a confidentiality agreement that
kept the exact price private. Date shown indicates when the
sale was first reported in Domain Name Journal.

Fashion.us
(May 25, 2004)

$XX,XXX

Private
Sale

As always, we welcome all verifiable sales reports from companies,
private sellers or individuals with knowledge of an important sale
made through any channel. To contribute information and help make
this column better, just drop a note to editor@dnjournal.com.

We truly appreciate the industry leading
companies represented on our charts who share their sales information
with us to help everyone in the business get a handle on current
domain values. Individuals like Richard
Meyer of the American Marketing Corporation also provide invaluable help by sending us data for these sales
reports each week.

Every Tuesday we publish the highest reported domain name
sales for the previous week. On Monday our contributors send us
their sales data for the previous 7 days. We then compile that
information and write this report for Tuesday publication to give
you the freshest sales report in the industry.

We will close with this standard caution. These are not average selling
prices - these are top selling domains. One of the
biggest impediments to making sales is pricing domains at
unrealistic levels. For most of us, pricing domains at the levels
achieved on the Top Ten chart will leave us waiting a long time to make a sale! We hope you will
use the information presented here as a measuring stick that will
help you price your domains at levels that will put more money in
your pocket more often!

Editor's Note: If you wish to review previous Domain
Sales columns, they are available in our Archive.